Making glowers for electric lamps.



No. 669,610. Patented Mar. l2, l90l. A. J. wunTs ,& m. w. mums. MAKINGGLUWEBS FOR ELEDTRIG LAMPS.

I (Application filed Inns 7. 1900-) (No Model.)

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UNrTEn TATES PATENT @EHQE.

' ALEXANDER JAY wuRTS AND MARSHALL WILFRED HANKS, or PITTS- BuRe,PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO eEoReE WESTINGHOUSE, on

SAME PLACE.

MAKING GLOWERS FOR ELECTRBC LAMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 669,610. dated March12, 1901.

Application filed June '7, 1900.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that ,we, ALEXANDER JAY WURTS and MARSHALL WILERED HANKS,citizens of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Making Glowers for Electric Lamps, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Our invention relates to electric lamps the light-emitting bodies orglowers of which are non-cond active when cold and conductive when hot,and particularly to the manufacture of such light-emitting bodies.

The object of our invention is to provide a simple, efficient, andeasily-practiced method of treating glower-blanks and forming glowerstherefrom.

To this end our invention consists of the operative steps in themanufacture of the glowers which will be hereinafter described, andspecifically pointed out in the claims.

In the manufacture of glowers as heretofore practiced by us it has beenusual to form a rod or string from suitable material while in a plasticcondition, then to subject the rod or string to high temperature for thepurpose of hardening it, and thereafter to cut it up and give it suchtreatment as was necessary to put the glowers into condition for servicein a lamp. It was found that the heating of glowers by the passage ofcurrent therethrough caused the material to shrink to a greater or lessextent, and consequently that it was desirable to effect such shrinkagebefore the glowers were putinto final form. Our present invention hasmainly to do with this shrinking of the glower string or rod and theoperations intermediate the shrinking proc ess and the final productionof the completed glower.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a blank ofsuitable length for a single glower. Fig. 2 is a similar View of apartially-formed glower and a pair of tweezers holding one end. Fig. 3is a similar view of a completed glower. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of ablank of suitable length for two glowers. Fig. 5 is a similar view witha terminal-wire attached to each end. Fig. 6

Serial No. 19,416. (No model.)

is a view similar to Fig. 5, but showing the blank bisected; and Fig. 7is a similar view of two complete glowers.

According to one modification of our invention we cut a rod or string,which is of suitable diameter for the glower, into single glowerlengths, one of such lengths a being indicated in Fig. 1. We then form abead b on one end of the blank by means of suitable manipulation in anare formed between car bon electrodes, the particular manipulation forthis purpose being no part of our present invention. and then attach tothe bead Z) a terminal-wire c, of platinum or other suitable metal. Wethen connect this terminal-wire c to one terminal of a suitable sourceof electrical energy and the other end of the partially'formed glower ato the other terminal of the source of energy, preferably by means of apair of tweezers cl, of conducting material. The electrical energy ispassed through the blank 0. by the means described until the shrinkingis completed, and then the blank is disconnected from the circuit and abead l), similar to the bead b, is formed on the other end of the glowerand a terminal-wire 0' permanently attached" thereto. The resultingdevice a is a glower in condition for use.

According to another modification of our invention we cut a rod orstring of material into lengths, each of which is suitable for twoglower-s. One of these lengths or blanks f is shown in Fig. 4. iVe thenform a bead g on each end of the blank and attach to each head apermanent terminal-wire h. The resulting blank or partially-completedglower f is then connected in circuit with a source of electrical energyand is maintained in circuit until the requisite shrinkage of thematerial is completed. The blank is then bisected, thus producing thetwo blanks f and f (Shown in Fig. 6.) A head g is then formed on the endof each blank opposite that having bead g, and a terminal-wire h ispermanently attached to each of said beads. The resulting glowerf isready for use and is the same in all respects as the completed glower61. which is shown in Fig. 3.

Our invention is not dependent upon any specific means for manipulatingthe glowerblanks and glowers, nor to any specific method or means forattaching the terminal-wires to the glower ends. We therefore desire itto be understood that no limitations are to be imposed except such asare specified in our claims.

We claim as our invention- 1. The improvement in the art of makingglowers which consists in forming a rod or string of suitable material,attaching a terminal-Wire to one end, passing a current through said rodor string to shrink it and finally attaching a terminal-wire to theother end.

2. The improvement in the art of making glowers which consists informing a rod or string, cutting said rod or string into blanks ofsuitable length, attachinga permanent terminal-Wire to one end of eachblank, passing current through said blank to shrink it, and thenattaching a permanent terminal-Wire to the other end.

3. The improvement in the art of making glowers which consists informing a blank of the proper length for two glowers, attaching aterminal-wire permanently to each end of the blank, passing currentthrough the blank to shrink it, bisecting the blank and attaching aterminal-wire to each end thus formed. 4. The'iinprovement in the 'artof making glowers which consists in forming a blank of the proper lengthfor two glowers, fusing a terminal-wire to each end of theblank,shrinking the blank by passing current through it, cutting theblank into two parts and finally fusinga terminal-Wire to each of thecut ends. In testimony whereof We have hereunto subscribed our namesthis 4th day of June, 1900.

ALEXANDER JAY WURTS. MARSHALL WILFRED HANKS. Witnesses:

MURRAY 0. BEEBE, EDWARD BENNETT.

